I have decided to join the blogging craze. I am looking forward to taking a moment to find out a little more about the plants I have been photographing. I hope to explore all aspects of plants, flowers, trees and other garden related topics. Sorry about having to watermark the photos but there are a lot of people using them without permission.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Half a Dozen Roses

Hybrid Tea Rose 'Brigadoon'

Half a Dozen Roses

The rose garden at the farm is coming along nicely and I decided to take some pictures over there. I was joking with my co-workers that I was the ‘Head Rose Grower’ at the farm. I reality I guess I am but I am also the only rose grower. I inherited all of the varieties in the garden. In a way that was helpful as I am growing a lot of roses I would have never chosen due to my own prejudices and previous bad experiences with some varieties and types. I probably would also have been worried a lot about colors. Instead I have this huge mix of varieties and colors that I wouldn’t have dreamed up on my own. I think there is a little lesson in there for me. Since there is room for about 35 more roses I will have to keep this mind when picking out the new roses.

Starting out with one of my favorites, and that is always subject to change, a beautiful pink blend (really hard to describe how beautiful the color is) Hybrid Tea Rose. Bred by William Warriner in 1991 and introduced by Jackson and Perkins in 1992. This rose has a petal count of 30-40 petals and a nice fragrance. It was an All-American Rose Selection in 1992.

Parentage: Seedling x PristineHeight: 3 feetSynonyms: JACpal

Moving on, there are several white roses in the garden. White Lighting and Moondance have both been good performers. This one, Pascali, is a small flowered Hybrid Tea. I don’t know if my bush is producing small flowers or that is the way the rose truly is. The Lens family bred this rose in Belgium in 1963. It was a 1969 All-American Rose Selection.

Here is another white one, although it is technically a white blend. ‘White Delight’ is also a Hybrid Tea rose and another one bred by William Warriner. I couldn’t find a lot of information on this rose other than the temperature has a lot to do with the color of the flowers.

Hybrid Tea Roae 'White Delight'

Fragrance: MildParentage: White Masterpiece × FuturaSynonyms: JACglow

I posted a rose named ‘Molly Mc Greedy’ a little while back that looked very similar to this rose. I think the color is a little darker and the buds are more pointed on this one, but the color scheme is close. How could you not love a rose named ‘Love’? This is another William Warriner and Jackson and Perkins introduction (am I sensing an unintentional theme here with the Warriner roses?). It is a very beautiful disease resistant and heavy blooming rose. It won the AARS award in 1980 and also won a Gold Metal at the Portland Rose Trials that same year.

In the large flowered category we have the apricot blend Floribunda ‘Honey Perfume’. This rose was also an All-American Rose Selection (2004). It is (in my garden) a tall plant that’s has had continuous blooms in large clusters. It has a very strong pleasant fragrance and the flowers are a beautiful color. It has shown good disease resistance so far. Although also introduced by J&P, it was bred by Dr. Keith Zary.

Finally, I feel a bit like I am running a marathon here, is a rose that I said I didn’t really care for previously. However, upon further review I think, 'Scentimental' is unique and beautiful. It has a bit of whimsy and that isn’t a bad thing in the garden (in moderation). It is a Floribunda and considered a red blend, striped rose. It has a strong fragrance and fairly large flowers. Each of the flowers has a different pattern so that is kind of fun. This was the first striped rose to win the AARS award (1997). Bred by Tom Carruth for Weeks roses it was introduced in the United States in 1997. For more information on Mr. Carruth there is an article in this post:click here. There is a link to more information about the AARS awards if you are not familiar with them.